Sunday, 10 September 2017

Friday, 10 March 2017

I have been meaning to read 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' for years. My Mum was the one who initially gave it to me, after reading it herself, and I immediately gave it a go, but found I couldn't get into it. About 5/6 years later I finally have picked it up again, and could not put it down! In fact I even took it to work with me to read during my lunch break, something I have never done before. Saying all this, it is not necessarily an enjoyable book, as the story is pretty harrowing and had me thinking about it for a long time. 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' is a fictional book by Lionel Shriver, telling the story of a school massacre. Written in first person from the perspective of Eva Khatchadourian, the mother of the killer, Kevin, the book is told as a series of letters to Eva's presumed ex-husband Franklin. The letters begin November 1st 2000, nearly 2 years after the crime, and through these letters Eva retells her life before and after Kevin, with continual glimpses into the events of the crime & her present day situation. From early on in the book it is apparent that she was on trial for parental negligence, and in some way these letters to Franklin are her way of showing that whilst she was not the perfect parent, she was also not, in my opinion, responsible for parental negligence. As the story develops we also learn more about Kevin's odd character, and how difficult he was even as a small child. I also find it really interesting hearing about Franklin as a father, and through her retelling how the years unfolded in these letters we see how Franklin also has a lot to answer for as father to Kevin. This book is such an interesting and thought provoking read, and I love the complexity of each character in the story. A strong theme in the book is the argument of nature vs nurture, a topic that I continued to debate whilst reading this book. If any of you have read the book, I would love to hear your opinion on whether you felt the parents were responsible for how Kevin turned out.If you have not read it, then I would really recommend it, it's by no means a happy book, but it is such an interesting story, and one that will stick with me for a long time. Thanks for reading

-- AshCam

Monday, 6 March 2017

Oh my February has flown by! I actually am in a little bit of shock that it is March as I write this??!February has definitely been much busier than I anticipated & I have been thrown back into the working world suddenly, and have found myself working harder than I have in a long time!

As any of my avid readers will know from my JANUARY post, I started my new internship at the start of this month, working as a studio assistant at Teatum Jones. It has been exactly a month since my first day & it has been crazy & tiring, but super fun and I've been lucky enough to have another internship with the nicest team! I am also very lucky and feel privileged to have been involved in Teatum Jones AW17 London Fashion Week show this month - eeeee!!! The fashion work may look super glamorous from the outside - however, be warned if you are wanting to enter the fashion industry be prepared for stress, hard work, and loooong hours! The Teatum Jones team for example had the show on Friday 19th Feb at 9am, so we went to work Thursday morning and worked through the night and morning, only going home at 4:30pm Friday! A few of the stages of that evening you can see depicted in photos above! As exhausted as I was, it was really good fun, and as a team we never lost motivation, and it was so worth it when seeing the collection come together at the show. It's also been so inspiring seeing Rob Jones, Catherine Teatum & their team working on the collection on the run up to Fashion Week - so much thought and creativity goes into everything they do, and the result is amazing.

February hasn't all been about work however, and whilst my weekends have mainly been about me catching up on sleep deprivation from LFW, I've also found time to finally go and see La La Land, do a bit of song writing with my sister, and spend time with my cousin. Unfortunately I haven't found as much time as I initially hoped to blog this month, but as always it was in my thoughts and I have plans to change that next month - we'll see how that goes...! I am, however, super excited to see what March holds for me!

Thanks for reading...

-- AshCam

Monday, 20 February 2017

X-MEN APOCALYPSE | 24-01-2017

I've done well for new films this January - mind you this one I have been wanting to see for a looooong time!
X-Men Apocalypse is the third of the .....
Every time I write the word Apocalypse I have to double check I have spelt it right - it doesn't come naturally for me to write 'apocalyse' it seems! Anyway, totally irrelevant to this post - this post is about just how FRICKING AMAZING THIS FILM IS! Okay, so I am slightly bias maybe [?] I am a huge fan of anything Marvel, especially the whole X-Men series! However, this film is also so, so good! Also, the cast is just too perfect, and I am loving the new additions, like Sophie Turner as Jean Grey and Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse himself. I have wanted to see X-Men Apocalypse since it went into the cinema, however due to uni commitments at the time, it came and went and it is only recently that I have finally purchased it and watched it. And oh my it did not disappoint!

The film begins in Ancient Egypt, where En Sabah Nur, ruler and powerful mutant believed to be the first of his kind, is being entombed alive in a pyramid by his worshipers, who die to protect and preserve his body. Fast forward to 1983, he awakens to find a world ran by humans, and seeks to destroy and rebuild the world. He begins by recruiting four mutant followers; Storm, Angel, Psylocke, and Magneto.
The story rejoins the Professor X as his school for the gifted is getting going, with more students enrolling, including Scott, the younger brother of Alex/Havoc, and Jean Grey. As events begin to unfold with En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse, the X-Men step in, teaming together to defeat him before he destroys the world.

As I said before, this film is just so epic - and provides more brilliant Wolverine cameos, and more of Peter/Quicksilver's amazing scenes! It is also great to see Raven and Charles working together on the same side again, and watch the continuing character development of Erik/Magneto. No one knows if there will be another X-Men film, but if this is the last one, oh my what a great finale!

-- AshCam

Friday, 10 February 2017

January has felt like such a strange month - to me it's kind of been split in half and the first half feels like it was ages ago! It has also, in January's usual fashion, flown by! How is it that I was still working at Urban this time last month, when I am now nearly 2 weeks into my new placement?!This is what I mean about it feeling completely split up - I mean, it could even be split into 3 parts - the first week when I was still in Christmas chill mode and blissfully chilling at home and going for drinks with my friends from home-home. Then the second part of my January was my abrupt return to reality as I went back to work again. Though as you know if you have read my earlier post on my past 6 months at Urban Outfitters, then you know that this was also the final 3 weeks of my internship. These weeks just went by in a flash, but were just the best final weeks, and also super emotional!